The honda element

best way to sell a car? use of everyday animals, deadpan delivery and smart writing. please see here for all of the commercials and my favorite below.

Donate money to UT

The University of Texas College of Communication building was built in the 1970s to house 1,200 students. Currently, there are at least 5,000 communication students. Therefore, the College of Communication is starting a fundraising drive centered around the theme: "Because of UT, I turned into me."

At graduation, the hilarious Dean Hart demanded all the graduates to fork over $100 to the college in exchange for a t-shirt.

Hopefully, the College of Communication can follow in the footsteps of the business school, where Red McCombs (ex-owner of the Minnesota Vikings and San Antonio Spurs) donated $50 million. The School of Geology was also created with a $300 million gift from John Jackson.

Basically, The University of Texas College of Communication should beg Roy Spence ,a close friend of Pres. Clinton I might add, to donate money to create the Spence College of Communication.

Final Fantasy anyone?

This Japanese TV spot reminds me of the Sony Playstation TV spots done by TBWA/Chiat/Day where a group of guys test out the weapons used in the Ratchet & Clank video game.

Speaking of Sony, anybody remember this commercial?

A Portfolio

Well, since this is a blog by Texas Creative students, it's only fitting that we have some portfolios up. I'll kick things off:

Now, this is an advertising blog so I'd prefer to put up some of my ad work. However, my ads aren't quite ready so I'll just put up my design work for now. Comments and criticisms are welcome, employment prospects are encouraged. =)

Creative Underdog

I'd also like to encourage my fellow creatives to submit their work. I've been tracking the Ranch's statistics and can see that it's been getting an increasing amount of attention. This would be a good chance to network and get your stuff seen, so get in touch with me or David so we can link ya up. And if you don't have anything online, I'd be glad to help you get something started.

Stick it to the man

I know the consumer created Chevy Tahoe ads have been covered to death in the media but I still crack up whenever I watch them.

I have to wonder, were Agency Creatives really the ones behind these "consumer generated" ads? Those lines seem way too well-written to come from amateurs.

On a side note, the Green Party has a very substantial political base here in the capitol of Texas.

The Pope wears Prada

Talk about the ultimate endorsement.

And don't forget Dubya drives a Ford pickup on his ranch in Crawford, TX. And he also rides a Trek bike (same as Lance) I believe.

The Juan Show is here!

So there's a new awards show in town. It's called, drum roll please, The Juan Show.

And guess who's behind this whole thing?

A little place here in Austin whose clients include BMW, AT&T, Kohler, and Southwest Airlines.

thanks to Jon for the news

The white management of Madison Ave

photo credit: Univ of Maine

Adage published a very interesting and perhaps unflattering article on March 6, 2006 about how the NYC City Council is going to subpoena ad agency executives to ask them about the lack of diversity in the advertising industry.

One interesting factor to take note of is how diverse are the the current portfolio classes at the leading portfolio programs around the country? Here at UT, they're very diverse with students hailing from all over the world.

Why is that relevant to this article and to the ad industry?

Because students, and jr. creatives, are the future of the advertising industry.

Funny Best Buy prank

50 people dress up in the Best Buy uniform (blue polos, khaki pants, and sneakers) and walk into a Manhattan Best Buy.

Here's the lowdown.

This is a cultural phenomenon known as a "flash mob".

A flash mob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, do something unusual for a brief period of time, and then quickly disperse. They are usually organized with the help of the Internet or other digital communications networks.
The term has also been applied to distributed mobs, who use similar means to co-ordinate sudden large scale simultaneous actions in multiple locations. An example of such an action is the widespread use of mobile phones in the 2005 civil unrest in France to co-ordinate widespread social disruption.

Draw away!

At The Art Blog Challlenge there is a weekly or monthly topic and everybody submits their artwork about it.

I.e. "THE SECRET LIVES OF ELEPHANTS"

2006 ANDY winners

It's time for a picture/ad dump. Click on images to enlarge.


Hardwood Rug


Armadillo bread box (from Boing Boing)

And here are some winners of the 2006 ANDY Awards (courtesy of adforum). Credits can be viewed at the ADDY website.

click on images to enlarge

Ad agency sues blogger

I first read about this a while back but I didn't seriously think an ad agency would sue a person for blogging about their work. I was wrong.

Here's the ad in dispute.



From Lance Dutson's blog

"Warren Kremer Paino Advertising has filed a 3 count multi-million dollar federal lawsuit against me for the reporting I’ve done in this blog. They are claiming defamation, libel, and copyright infringement..."

Viral: Kit-Kats will help you ace your SAT!

While perusing Seth Godin's blog, I came across this facinating cultural phenomenon involving Japanese students and Kit-Kat bars. (from Alphamale's blog)

The ad is an American one.

Online: Firefox Flicks Competition

Project Description

Create a 30-second ad, in any style (live action or animated,) that brings Firefox to life for the millions of Web users who have yet to discover Firefox and the better Web experience it delivers.



Grand Prize

"Daredevil" by Pete Macomber


And this spot should've been second.

"This is Hot" by Danny Robashkin


Watch the other winnners here